If you like the spaniels (which are different than retrievers IME) a field-line Cocker would probably really float your boat. I know I'm always saying this, but Ollie is like screeching, shaking, spinning obsessed with toys, boundless energy, happy go lucky, solid nerved, very naturally easy to train, natural focus, and has no problems camping out on the couch when you do. He's a high drive dog for sure but my mom has no issues with him as a relatively untrained house pet. He's got ZERO aggression in him, and even as an adolescent intact male, no sense of male-to-male aggression or manliness.

When I've worked with him formally he's eager to please and very biddable. Also ridiculously food motivated. He's not soft or nervy, which I know some people worry about in Cockers.

Very much an easy to work with, ready to rock, happy-go-lucky little dog.

The koolies sound pretty great. I don't know about four years though. Two or three? Haha. They're a definite consideration. Hoping I can meet some one day.

Field cockers are one I've thought of however I really have not been very drawn to either the American cockers or English cockers I know. They are all show line but very nose to ground and not nearly the kind of handler focus I like. May just be the lines but I feel like I'd get frustrated with them. They are good dogs though, very stable and nice temperaments.

I'm very used to and very much like the fact that Shelties and papillons tend to be super handler oriented and intuitive kinds of dogs. At least for me they are lol

Field cockers are one I've thought of however I really have not been very drawn to either the American cockers or English cockers I know. They are all show line but very nose to ground and not nearly the kind of handler focus I like. May just be the lines but I feel like I'd get frustrated with them. They are good dogs though, very stable and nice temperaments.

I'm very used to and very much like the fact that Shelties and papillons tend to be super handler oriented and intuitive kinds of dogs. At least for me they are lol

I will say Ollie is a whole different ballgame than the other Cockers I know. I like the showline dogs but would never take one home, personally.

Interestingly, he's not very nose to ground at all when engaged, though he will quarter a field/our yard with his nose down when looking for his ball or whatever.

But yeah, they're not herders and definitely don't quite act like them either.

I'd have to agree with poodle (because I'm not biased at all...). Samwise isn't well bred conformation-wise, but he has a fabulous temperament, loves other dogs, and can be a real clown. He's just full of positive energy, and always wants to be where his people are - or at least be able to check up on us. One of us can't be behind a closed door, because he'll be constantly trying to check up on us, haha! The one thing is that he does play kind of rough with smaller dogs, but I think that's mostly because he was socialized with the bigger dogs around here, and never quite figured out that the littler guys need a lighter hand.

As far as the coat, we shaved him down to a quarter inch for summer. It's not very hard to maintain a short clip if you keep up with it, and if I can learn how to cut a dog's coat, anyone can, trust me.

I definitely think a mini would be a good fit for you. Seems like a lot of mini breeders are highly involved in agility, and produce a good number of sport dogs. There's also the Klein/Moyen size - they're in between minis and standards. Not officially recognized in the AKC, but they are in many other countries. I know of one breeder in the US that breeds them from genuine Klein stock (some breeders just throw a standard and a mini together, which is kind of frowned upon in the breed), and produces performance dogs.

How are they at pulling? Everything about them is everything I love about Squash, plus an off switch? STOP TALKING ABOUT THEM.

lol that would be me

My two Toolalla Koolies, Smudge and Turbo, are AMAZING sleddogs.

Ive run dogs in harness for 15+ years (seriously) and another 10 on top of that before I knew what I was doing lol

Ive run all sorts of breeds, Cattle dogs/Red heeler, bull terrier, GSD, Groney, huskies, our Huntaway x shar pei and now koolies. As well as helped many people in the sleddog club get in to the sport with all types of breeds and x breeds.

Out of all those non traditional sleddogs Ive had, koolies have had the most amount of heart, drive, stamina and pure desire and love to run in harness.

So much so we had to get a second koolie (Turbo).

I enjoy having a non-husky in the pack so I can have a dog to go to the park and have safely off lead. But that breed also needed to be able to run in harness and have a lot of qualities a husky has to do the job and koolies fit the role perfectly.

While it was probably a little easier to train our koolies to be sleddogs alongside our huskies, a very good friend of mine also has 2 koolies (one from Toolalla one with Toolalla lines) who are fantastic sleddogs who learnt the sport on their own - so the breed has certainly got the ability to pull

I have found them to be such a versatile breed, they put their heart in to any job they are given and one of the best things I have found is that they have an off switch so over summer when it is too hot to run in harness they are very happy to chill out and enjoy other, more mellow activities.

They are also fantastic with our two kids and get along great with other dogs. I have also found they are a very brave and daring breed, I can ask either of them to jump up on to ANYTHING and they do it with pleasure, nothing seems to phase them at all!

Considering my little hound mix is essentially self-taught, I have no objections to a non-Northern breed all on its own.

In other words: Oh christ, I'm doomed.

I do love the Alaskans I've met... maybe a Koolie-Alaskan alliance someday. It will be a long time before I'm in the market for any new dogs, though, so maybe I'll have forgotten about this thread by then.

I don't have any plans to go to Oklahoma this year. We might be hitting up Missouri to watch the Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge in the fall to watch a friend compete though, but that's as close as I'm getting this year.